Isabela had just been passing through when she heard her least favorite family member's voice.
"I'm not super strong like Luisa."
Just like every other time she heard Mirabel talk, irritation coursed through Isabela's veins. Of course Mirabel would complain to their mother about something she could do nothing about. Couldn't she see how stressed their mother was, working herself to the bone for everyone in the Encanto?
"Or– Or effortlessly perfect like Señorita Perfecta Isabela."
Isabela stiffened as Mirabel's voice faded into jargon that she was no longer paying attention to. It took only a moment for her surprise to morph into anger.
How dare she? She had no clue what Isabela had to do to appear perfect; someone like Mirabel, whose only job seemed to be getting in everyone's way, could never understand what it was like to have a life so restricted.
Mirabel could do whatever she pleased. Abuela had no expectations of her. Isabela couldn't even frown without having to face Abuela's disappointed look.
Mirabel didn't have to look perfectly calm when she just wanted to scream at people. Mirabel didn't have to listen to the local farmers complain about how their crops wouldn't grow no matter how much they tended to them, without being able to call them out on their lies. Mirabel didn't have to smile at people who wasted her time with pointless errands that didn't need to be done at all just because people were desperate to talk to her. Mirabel wasn't stuck marrying a guy she had no interest in for the sake of the family.
So, what right did Mirabel have to complain, when she never looked beyond her own problems and the little bubble she lived in?
Mirabel was free to do what she wanted, free to express whatever she felt. She didn't have the weight of the family's image and Abuela's expectations holding her back. And yet, she dared to complain about how "terrible" her life was?
"Isabela!" she heared Abuela call.
"Coming!" she replied.
With a deep breath, Isabela forced the scowl off of her face and marched away from the kitchen, because she was Isabela Madrigal and she (couldn't) didn't make such unsightly expressions.